Nineteenth-Century Russia:: Opposition to Autocracy

ISBN-13: 9781138835801 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 160 str.

Derek Offord

Opis

This new Seminar Study provides students with a rewarding introduction to nineteenth-century Russia. This period of Russian history is, of course, characterised by the flowering of an enormously rich intellectual and cultural life, the origins of which lie in the intelligentsiaAs opposition to autocratic rule. Here, Professor Offord introduces the reader to the period while focusing particularly on the rise of radicalism.

The book opens with two scene-setting chapters: one looking at the political and social structure peculiar to Russia, and the second looking at the cultural and intellectual background. Then, within a chronological framework, the author examines all the great 'events' in the history of Russian radicalism - from the Decembrist Revolt in 1825, to the 'going to the people' in 1874, and the assassination of Alexander II in 1881. However, throughout the text sustained attention is given to the intellectual dimension of nineteenth-century Russian history. Professor Offord examines all the major schools of thought and looks in detail at all the great thinkers of the day, including Chaadaev, Belinsky, Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Bakunin and Tolstoy.

This new book will provide essential reading for anyone studying nineteenth-century Russia. Lucid, accessible and immensely readable, it is a formidable achievement.

Spis treści

An introduction to the series Vll
Note on referencing system Vlll
Note on dates, transliteration and use of Russian terms IX
Foreword XI
Map: Nineteenth-century Russia Xlll
PART ONE: THE HISTORICAL SETTING 1
1. THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE 1
Autocracy 1
Nobility and service 2
Serfdom and social backwardness 3
2. CULTURAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE 7
Westernization 7
The intelligentsia 9
PART TWO: PHASES OF OPPOSITION 12
3. THE AGE OF ALEXANDER I (1801-25) 12
The 'fine beginning of Alexander's days' 12
The Decembrist Revolt 13
4. THE AGE OF NICHOLAS I (1825-55) 20
Russian culture in the age of Nicholas 20
Chaadaev's 'Philosophical Letter' 23
Slavophilism 25
Liberal Westernizers 29
Belinsky 33
Herzen 37
The Petrashevtsy 41
VI Contents
5. INTELLECTUAL REVOLT (1855-c. 1868) 44
The effects and aftermath of the Crimean War 44
Conservative nationalist thought in the 1850s and 1860s 48
Russian liberalism after the Crimean War 50
Radical thought: Chernyshevsky 55
Radical thought: Dobroliubov, Pisarev and the arts 59
Seditious literature and revolutionary groups in the 1860s 62
6. THE REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN THE 1870s 66
Radical literature and thought, 1868-73 66
Lavrov 68
Bakunin 70
Tkachov 72
The 'going to the people' 75
Land and Liberty 78
The People's Will, 1879-81 81
7. OPPOSITION AFTER 1881 85
Tolstoy 85
Plekhanov and the 'Emancipation of Labour' Group 88
Revolutionary groups in the 1880s 92
Political movements in the 1890s 97
PART THREE: ASSESSMENT 102
PART FOUR: DOCUMENTS 106
Bibliography 126
Index

O autorze

Derek Offord is Professor of History and Head of the Department of Russian Studies at the University of Bristol.